Interview Still in Rock : Wyatt Blair (Power Pop)

6.2.14

6.2.14

As we noticed for the year-end ranking of 2013 , the Album Review of Banana Cream Dream was the most "liked" of all. Rank...

As we noticed for the year-end ranking of 2013, the Album Review of Banana Cream Dream was the most "liked" of all. Ranked in the top 20 albums of 2013 and 6th best music of the year, the music of Wyatt Blair has emerged as the best Power Pop revival of these last 365 days. That is the reason why to interview Wyatt Blair was such a great honor. Still in Rock wish a long life to Wyatt Blair, a band that we will not forget.

It’s funny you ask…it was new years eve in 2010, I had this concept of writting a Power Pop kind of album and I was wearing my favorite yellow scarf, hand-made by my friend Rachel…my friend Tomas Dolas (guitar in the band) was makin’ remarks on my scarf and said something on the lines of “that scarf is like a banana cream dream!” I instantly laughed and KNEW that moment that I had to name the album Banana Cream Dream!

- TOMAS DOLAS (guitar/vocals) we met in our hometown of Laguna, CA we would go to shows a lot at this cool place called Trashpretty and through a dear friend who worked there we met and started a band called Mr.Elevator & The Brain Hotel, which is still going! Tomas plays keboards in that band I play drums .

- CAMERON ALLEN (drums) I grew up with cameron! we went to the same schools k-12 and we were in our very first band together called Marz & The Mess, we did a lot of crazy weird shit together and we have been playing music together since we both started playing music it’s a beautiful thing!

- JEREMY KATZ (bass) I met Jeremy when he was doing a lot of filming stuff in L.A., he was friends with me and tomas’s close friend Dan, and would come over to our house and hangout and take pictures and videos for us…he wanted to learn how to play bass, so he got one and I asked him right when he got a bass to join my band…me and tomas taught him how to play music! Jeremy is known for his a,azing slap bass skills, his fluffy beard and funny impressions, his nickname is “Jer-Bear”.

When Still in Rock wrote the Album Review of Banana Cream Dream, we used movies to describe your music, such as American Graffiti, Clerks, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Breakfast Club, Diner, The Graduate, Rushmore, Wet Hot American Summer and Dazed and Confused. Which one is your favorite, and why ?

Definetly…Breakfast Club! I love that movie, that teen angst feeling, that feeling of having a crush on someone, those feelings of being accepted and just being young shaped who I am now, and I can really relate to that movie, along with it being a total classic!

All of my albums are completely conceptual….Peach Colored Pussy was all songs I wrote when I was young and heart broken….I always wanted to write a goth/pop album songs about being alone/heart break/suicide/etc. it was intened on being much more dark than other things I write…

I have a ton of stuff im working on/trying to work on…for one, I am working on a conceptual synth/punk/thrash album called “Translucent Spider” I am also working on a folk album called “Bubblegum Shmubblegum” also I am in the midst of re-recording songs from Peach Colored Pussy & Candy Eyes and making it into 1 album with better production and re-issueing it….along with a bubblegum pop album im working on called “Strawberry Jacuzzi” ….. eek!

You have another band called Mr.Elevator & The Brain Hotel (article). Why did you choose to have 2 different bands ? What is the main difference between the two ? Is that right to say that Wyatt Blair is more Power Pop and Mr.Elevator & The Brain Hotel more psychedelic ?

Well Mr.Elevator & The Brain Hotel came first…Tomas & I started that band back in 2010…and have never stopped…Once I started recording my own music more he would help play in the band for live shows….so we ended up just making both work simoustaniously… yeah I would say Banana Cream Dream is more of the “pop” spectrum and Mr.Elevator is more of the “psychedelic” spectrum

Oj jeeze I didn’t get the memo! hahaha we just try and have fun and not take ourselves so seriously….its against what we stand for to try and be so “coooool” and “rockstarish” we are just a bunch of dorks that like goofing around and having fun! also we shotgun fruit punch before every banana cream dream show…might have something to do with it

Theres a lot of throwback 1960’s retro psych and garage rock/droney shoegazy psych stuff happening in L.A.… a lot of darker music…not a lot of pop music…. a lot of people who think they are soooo “cool” …a lot of social/cliquey bullshit in L.A.… a lot of good stuff too!